Kshitij Sobti

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Posted on 06-02-2012

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Every day we create and consume media in many forms. It would be reassuring to know that the photos we take today, and the videos we record will still be viewable 20 years from now. Unfortunately there aren't always such reassurances.

There have been numerous formats for recording audio and video in the past that have gone obsolete, and gone with them is the ability to experience that media. In the digital world these problems need not exist. After all, any file is merely a logical arrangement of data and as long as that logic is known, someone can create software to access and use that data.

We have open formats for texts, documents and books, open formats for music and video. The formats might even be heavily patented, but the specification is open for anyone to create a player or viewer. There is however, a lack of such a thing when it comes to games.

Games are another form of media we experience, but due to the richness of this media it is probably not feasible nor even a good idea to have common formats or specifications for how games should be created. How then is it possible to ensure that the games created today live on even when the systems they were created on a long obsolete? Open source them of course.

The most important part of any game is the game data, the models, maps, voice-overs, dialogues etc. The best way for any game creator to ensure that it will always be possible to play their game -- even if they no longer support or sell it -- is to make the game engine open source. The game data need not be opened, gamers will still need to pay for that if they want to play the game. id Software has the right idea in this regard as they open source their previous-generation engines, and it should be a model followed by all game creators.

One might wonder why it is even necessary to create an open source version of a game engine when it will require buying the game to play it anyway. What if, you say, the game is already available on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX? What if it is DRM-free? Isn't that good enough? It might be, for now. Eventually though, Windows 8, 9, 10 and so forth will come out; Linux will update its core to a point that the software no longer runs, then what?

Platforms change over time, and we speak not just of a decade, but of a century from now. Writing open source portable software is the best way to ensure the longevity of the software. While the operating systems that are capable of running these games might become obsolete, with an open source engine it will always be possible to port it to a new OS. Can the original developers maintain their game for eternity? What about when they're dead? Sorry to burst their bubble, but everyone dies some day; your work should still live on.